The Oncology Team stopped by early Monday morning. Her labs looked good except her hemoglobin was low. Normal hemoglobin for an adult female is around 12 – 16 g/dl. Shannon’s has been running lower around 9.5 to 10. Monday morning it was 6.6 g/dl and the lower threshold is 7 g/dl. Since she was below the threshold, they ordered 1 Unit of whole blood for her to boost her hemoglobin and red blood cell count. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The oncologist rounding was Dr. Mims. She said after Shannon received the blood transfusion she could go home.

We also got visits from Dr. Roy Varughese (the attending), Elsa RN (the nurse navigator for Oncology) and Russell (the oncology pharmacist). We reviewed everything from meds to start and continue at home, which prescriptions would be called into the pharmacy, which prescriptions would be coming from the specialy pharmacy, clinic visits and also Shannon’s next procedure. She has to get another IT Chem injection on Aug. 16th. It will be outpatient but she has to get it done at the hospital vs. the clinic. The 16th is a Friday and her favorite IR doctor said he works on Thursdays and Fridays. Hopefully he’s there on the 16th. Shannon is dreading having to get it done again so soon.

We got discharged around 5pm on Monday and got home safe and sound. This chemo cycle really hit her hard. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s her 2nd cycle or if it’s the type of chemo drugs that were used. I think we’ll find out when she starts the next cyle in a couple of weeks. She’s feeling very tired, gloomy, and trying to not think about how much more of this she has to go through. It will be the same chemo drugs she took the first time. She completed cycles 1A and 1B. Next admission will be for cylce 2A.

I gave her the long acting injection to boost her white blood cell counts. Her immune system is pretty low right now and could dip a little lower over the next few days but should start going back up. The goal is to have it back to fairly normal levels before the next chemo cycle. She has a clinic visit Thursday morning for a cell count check and a visit with the doctor if he’s back from out of town. If not, she’ll meet with Manila the NP.